VET & TAFE campusreview. com. au
Plaudits follow punishment
After federal politicians spend years progressively dismantling TAFE, a report from Parliament heaps praise upon the public provider.
By John Mitchell
There was much noise around the VET sector in late 2014, but few public comments were made about a remarkable report praising TAFE by the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Employment. The report of the inquiry into TAFE and its operation was titled TAFE: an Australian asset and gave a ringing endorsement of the important role performed by the public provider. This endorsement was all the more remarkable because since 2009 both major political parties have supported the shifting of funds away from TAFE and, in many cases, inadvertently into the pockets of rogue training providers.
Whilst it is important to acknowledge that there are many fine private providers in Australia who have a key role to play in a healthy VET sector, over the last five years both Labor and the Coalition have supported a so-called market-based system for VET that has helped spawn a raft of shonky private operators, partly at the expense of funding for TAFE. The size of the problem shonky operators cause was evidenced by three reports tabled in late 2013 by the national VET regulator – the Australian Skills Quality Authority.
The reports examined the exploitation of students in the fields of aged care, the inadequate online learning programs in the construction industry and the vast extent of misleading marketing practices in the sector.
Most media noise in the VET sector late last year was generated by the spectacular collapse in the share price of Vocation Ltd, reviving the public discussion about profit-driven training providers signing up students for inappropriate courses and leaving them with huge debts. Vocation’ s dramatic fall from favour with investors was played out in the national media, and seems to have pricked the bubble of excitement around private providers listing on the stock exchange. Investors who lost more than $ 500 million on Vocation shares are now more aware that the provision of quality training and assessment in VET requires a substantial investment in resources and trainers. Also, it requires providers committed to helping students learn and acquire skills, not to lining their own pockets.
The other main source of media noise in the VET sector late last year was the surprising focus on the future of TAFE by the main political parties in the November 2014 Victorian state election. The
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